Crypto Exchange Founder Pleaded Guilty To $700 M Unlicensed Money

There is a crypto exchange founder who has pleaded guilty to $700 million in unlicensed money. Check out the latest reports about this below.

The founder of Bitzlato, a cryptocurrency exchange, Anatoly Legkodymov, has pleaded guilty to federal charges for his involvement in illegally transporting and transmitting hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of illicit funds.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has stated that Legkodymov admitted to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business at a Brooklyn federal court earlier this week.

Bitzlato reportedly became a hub for criminal proceeds and funds due to the absence of proper know-your-customer (KYC) procedures.

The exchange allegedly facilitated over $700 million worth of cryptocurrency transactions with users of the drug bazaar Hydra Market, which was shut down in April 2022.

“Bitzlato’s largest counterparty in cryptocurrency transactions was Hydra Market, an online marketplace for narcotics, stolen financial information, fraudulent identification documents, and money laundering services that was the largest and longest running darknet market in the world.”

Legkodymov was arrested in January as authorities when US authorities targeted Bitzlato with money laundering charges.

Says U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace,

“Legkodymov’s guilty plea today confirms that he was well aware that Bitzlato, his cryptocurrency exchange, was being used like an open turnstile by criminals eager to take advantage of his lax controls over illicit money transactions.

The defendant may have thought he was operating from a safe haven overseas for his ‘No Questions Asked’ clearinghouse, but this prosecution and conviction demonstrate otherwise.”

Legkodymov agreed to dissolve Bitzlato and release all claims to $23 million of seized assets as part of the plea deal.

Stay tuned for more details about this and make sure to check out the markets as well. There are a lot of optimistic predicitons about the future of crypto these days.